Time Will Tell...

Time will tell…

It’s the last day of December 2010 and the November elections are now history –hopefully enough time has passed for the dust to settle – heal a few wounds – and provide an opportunity to look back at what happened. President Obama called it a shellacking – others have called it a tsunami – I think of it as a debacle. Certainly former Governor Sununu is to be congratulated for re-building the NH Republican party – his hard work certainly demonstrates what gravitas is & how to use it to move your agenda… Guess those pronouncements that NH being a Blue State was a bit premature!

But what are the lessons learned? A lot of pundits, self-proclaimed experts and morning quarterbacks have killed a lot of trees dissecting and telling us what happened – so I thought I would join the parade.

For starters, the NH GOP & Governor Sununu did an excellent job of marrying the problems & opinions people have of Washington DC with Concord NH. Of all the comments and explanations I have heard – the linking of Washington with Concord is the best I’ve been able to wrap my head around. While I’d like to claim credit for such insight – I first heard it from someone on a panel (of pundits, self-proclaimed experts & morning quarterbacks) at Saint Anslem College’s Institute of Politics. It is the best & most accurate truism to explain the loss of the NH House, Senate, and Executive Council, as well as the loss of one federal senate race and two federal members of congress. A lot of dems I know are still walking around in a daze – wondering what happened. Truth & facts aside – people just believed that NH government was broken and out of control… Yup – a debacle!

Of course the democrats did not help matters and appeared more interested in touting social issues instead of addressing people’s fear about lost jobs and an economy in free fall. Couple this with the opposition staying on message (plus a lot of money) – resulted in the democrats being out played on the Public Street.

Now all of this brings us up to the present - as the NH legislature prepares to convene next week (1/5/11) – what should we expect? The size of the Republican win is so large that the democrats (all 102) in the House could walk out and the republicans still have a quorum. Actually there are almost as many representatives who were endorsed by the Liberty Alliance as there are elected democrats. So, what should we expect? At first glance - such a large majority should bode well for state government and getting things done – right? Time will tell...

My thought is who are these newly elected representatives of the NH General Court? According to available info – most have never held elected office – many appear to have strong radical libertarian leanings – almost all claim to be “true” conservatives – so does that mean they are Free Staters intent on taking over NH, or are they just homegrown libertarians? Interestingly, if they are Free Staters, few have been transparent about belonging to this movement intent on using NH as a social science lab for their radical libertarian ideas – who knows only time will tell…

The question is will this republican coalition stay together, or will it fragment and divide between traditional “main street” republicans – strong individual rights libertarians – and conservative faith-based pols? One indicator of what to expect is the list of proposed legislation that has been filed. In looking over the list - there are bills to repeal gay marriage & civil unions, change education funding, allow tax caps, and bills that will affect a woman’s right to choose. They also have bills that support Arizona’s immigrant legislation – create a NH Militia separate from the National Guard – allow guns in the state house – and the list goes on….

Republican leadership has publically said it wants in the 1st year to focus on the budget – and postpone the social agenda for year two. Speculation is will they be able to keep their members in line. Their concern over the budget is sound – as we have always known it will be more challenging than the one recently past. Most experts have cited New Hampshire as having been better managed and fared better than most states throughout this international recession, so it will be interesting to see how the present regime addresses the problem.

Under the democrats – the plan was to spread out the budget pain equally while not totally dismantling programs and services that affected New Hampshire’s most needy. Now we will see how the republicans address this ongoing crisis. Much of their rhetoric has been for drastic cuts - personally, my concern will be to not shift costs back to the cities and towns. However, if the focus is to cut the present budget and since forty percent (40%)of the state’s budget is aid to municipalities, I am curious on how they’ll cut and not shift costs down to the local level. My fear is that “Local Control” will really mean “handle it yourselves.”

According to my friends in state government, the rumor going around is that agencies will now be more “business friendly” – but what does that mean? Will there be more opportunities for business to expand and create high paying jobs, or is it just a mask to disguise legislation that fosters de-regulation that supports pollution, exploitation and an overall blind eye? We know that anti-labor “Right to Work” legislation has been proposed for this session – so only time will tell….

Now the partisan side of me hopes the Republicans will over-reach and self-destruct, however as a believer in government there is a part of me that wishes them well. Sadly, this past election cycle represents the third in a row that has resulted in drastic political change and membership which means that those elected are more often part of each party’s extreme wings. I suspect if the pollsters are right that the general public want less division and politicians working together – the masses may be very disappointed in both Washington & Concord.

As someone who strongly believes in the center and finding common ground - let’s hope that the NO LABELS movement takes hold and has an impact. Unfortunately, my fear is what we will see are extremists more concerned with promoting a specific political ideology and not into serious dialogue and solid solutions that make matters better. Time will tell…

Election 2010

WE were saturated with political ads consisting of half truths and sloganeering throughout this election cycle. The problem is what was fact or fiction! We heard a lot about the NH Budget and while I don’t want to minimize the issue, the budget is balanced and a 70 million dollar surplus does exists. That fact/claim is by professional auditors – not partisan politicians.

In June, the Legislature was called back into a special session. Due to the recession, a revenue shortfall was discovered; therefore, to keep the budget balanced, certain adjustments were needed. Among those adjustments was repeal of the controversial LLC Tax –which was done by both democrats and republicans (including this writer). The adjusted budget reflects across the board cuts – there were no sacred cows. Consensus was that more cuts would have had a negative impact on services for the most needy in the state.

Also about those taxes & fees – fact: in the 2009/2010 session, there were over 35 increases to fees & several new fees – all were sponsored by republicans.

Regarding the management of the state – there are a few facts we need to know. According to the WALL STREET JOURNAL (10/4/2010), New Hampshire is among the 10 best-run states in the Nation. The article reports that well-run states “keep balanced books, investment is prudent and debt is sustainable”. Another interesting fact is that the nation’s 3 largest bond rating agencies have held NH’s rating steady reflecting a "fundamentally strong state economy." Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor Services, and Fitch Ratings have all maintained the state’s above average ratings.

Now I know everything is not wonderful – and times are tough requiring due-diligence by all elected officials. However, I hope you will realize that the governor and legislators presently in power have remained focused and frugal.

Lastly, regarding next session’s budget – I don’t have a crystal ball – but I do know that crafting a budget will be a major challenge. It will take hard work and possible sacrifice – not sloganeering. Let's see what the other team will do - stay tuned...

Community & Government Communication Strategies – a practical discussion #1

As the title indicates – this blog will focus on community and government communications strategies. If you are expecting a partisan political blog – you will be disappointed.
However, if you are an individual, small business or community leader and have often been lost regarding how to navigate the bureaucratic maze that is sometimes government, you might find this useful. My intent is that this blog will attempt to initiate a practical, common sense discussion on what is new and evolving, as well as how government works.
The goal is to not only provide useful tactical strategies, but offer practical legislative updates that will permit you to make better, more informed decisions. In upcoming months – specific legislation that was passed on both the state and federal level will be shared with readers.
If opinion polls and news articles are to be believed – government and politicians are in the eyes of many American, at their lowest point in years. Some who voted for President Obama are discouraged because change hasn’t happened fast enough, while others interpret what is happening as the nation sliding down the slippery sloop towards socialism. Unfortunately, whether it is due to unmet expectations or perceived threats, we collectively seem to have forgotten that “government and politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions”. While I don’t want this blog to be viewed as a Civics primer - perhaps a key first step is a better understanding of the what/why and how of government. Specifically: WHAT is it supposed to do – WHY has such a policy or law been enacted and – HOW will it work and realizing the impact it has on our daily lives…
So sign up – Join in and let the discussion begin.